The Full Time Crypto Field Guides
STABLECOIN
For the People!
The Full Time Crypto Field Guides
A Full Time Crypto Field Guide
The Stablecoin Field Guide
Dollar tokens, reserves, freezes, and depegs.
Full Time Crypto
For the People! — Knowledge. Ownership. Freedom.
Before you start
What this is
Stable is a target. It is not a law of nature.
A stablecoin is a token that tries to stay near a reference, usually one U.S. dollar. Different tokens keep that promise in different ways.
This is a category book. There is no single “day the stablecoin was born.” We will give sourced birthdays for the major dollar tokens beginners actually meet, and we will not invent one holiday for the whole idea.
A token that says $1 on a screen can freeze, depeg, or live on a chain your exchange does not support.
Educational information only. Not financial, investment, legal, tax, or trading advice. Dates, supply figures, and court records in this book are taken from the sources listed at the back. If a fact is not sourced, it is not printed as a fact. Unverified items stay open.
How this book is built
Contents
Every Full Time Crypto Field Guide uses the same spine of parts, in this order. Extra pages appear only when this coin actually has them.
The birthday
Day the coin was born
No single birthday — category
Tether’s token was created on Omni as “TetherUS” on 6 October 2014. The company later renamed from Realcoin. USD Coin (USDC) launched in 2018 from Circle and Coinbase. This book will not pretend they share one genesis block.
| Event | Date | What that date is |
|---|---|---|
| Omni property created as TetherUS | 6 October 2014, 16:39:15 UTC | First 100 tokens 6 October 2014, 18:54:05 UTC. No Omni property was ever named Realcoin. |
| Company rename Realcoin → Tether | Around November 2014 | The company renamed. The token was not renamed from Realcoin to USDT. |
| USDC | 2018 | Circle and Coinbase. Read Circle’s current terms and attestations. |
| GENIUS Act | 18 July 2025, P.L. 119-27 | U.S. statute for permitted payment stablecoin issuers. Implementation is phased. Cite govinfo, not a blog. |
Tether Limited’s USDT is commonly dated to 2014. Read Tether’s own site and attestations for how they describe reserves today—not a 2014 blog comment. A Tether-authored document acknowledging the Realcoin name was not found in the pack. The rename is sourced from Realcoin’s own site plus its HTTP 301 to tether.to.
Circle’s USDC launched in 2018. Circle publishes attestations and issuer terms. An attestation is not a financial-statement audit unless the document says it is.
Algorithmic designs that try to hold a peg with code and incentives have broken in public. “Stable” in the name did not save them.
People and projects
Who is behind it
An issuer is a company or protocol that creates and redeems the token under published rules. Circle is not Tether. A DAO is not a bank.
Custodians, attestors, and the blockchains the token is issued on are extra parties. A wallet that displays USDC is not the issuer.
GENIUS Act §4(a)(6)(B): a permitted issuer may issue payment stablecoins only if it has the technological capability to comply, and will comply, with a lawful order to seize, freeze, burn, or prevent transfer. Freeze-and-burn capability is a precondition of issuing, not a rare extra.
Place and lineage
Where it came from
Dollar tokens came from several issuers on several chains. The category is older than any one ticker you meet in a wallet.
PWG 2021 footnote 8: even if purported value in circulation equals reserve assets, other creditors may have a competing claim on those reserves. Full backing does not settle priority.
PWG footnote 6: reserves sitting in an insured bank does not mean deposit insurance extends to the stablecoin user. Pass-through coverage requires strict conditions and caps at $250,000 per holder.
Tether’s fork clause: if a fork creates two tokens that purport to be Tether, only the chain Tether announces as supported is a Tether Token. Wrappers and copies cannot be redeemed with Tether. Circle’s terms similarly exclude unaffiliated copies.
Keep these separate
What it is and is not
It is
- A token that aims to track a reference, usually one U.S. dollar.
- A family of designs: fiat-backed, crypto-backed, and (riskier) algorithmic.
- An asset that can exist on many networks with different contracts.
It is not
- Cash in your pocket. Redemption rules and issuer access matter.
- FDIC-insured bank deposits just because the screen shows $1.00.
- One coin with one birthday and one contract.
The machine
How it works
- Agreement method
- A stablecoin usually lives on someone else’s chain. That chain’s consensus is not the peg. The peg is an issuer, a reserve, a contract, or an incentive design.
- Units
- Typically 1 token : $1 as a target. Decimals and contracts differ by token and chain.
- Issuance
- Fiat-backed issuers mint and burn against reserves under their terms. Crypto-backed systems mint against collateral. Algorithmic systems have broken. This book does not print a live global “stablecoin supply.”
Fiat-backed tokens depend on reserve quality, attestation, and the right to redeem. If you cannot redeem, you are a secondary-market holder.
Issuers can freeze addresses when their terms and the host chain allow it. “Stable” is not “uncensorable.”
The same ticker on Ethereum, Tron, Solana, or PulseChain can be different contracts and different risks. Bridges create still more representations.
A payment, in order
- You acquire a specific token on a specific network.
- The host chain records the balance.
- The peg holds only if the issuer, collateral, or market still supports it.
- Moving to another chain is a bridge or a withdrawal—not teleportation.
Keys, not cookbooks
How you send and hold it
The coins are recorded on the network. The wallet holds the secret that can move them. If someone else has that secret, they can usually move the coins.
A recovery phrase is a list of ordinary words that can rebuild the keys. Nobody who is helping you should need it. A support chat, a giveaway, or a “wallet check” that asks for it is trying to take the coins.
Custodial accounts (an exchange or app that holds the keys for you) can freeze, limit, or lose access. Self-custody gives you control and the full job of backup. Neither choice is magic.
This chapter is not a crime cookbook. It does not teach mixing, tumbling, fake identities, or how to hide funds from a lawful process. It teaches you not to donate your keys to a stranger.
Match the exact token and network the receiver listed. USDT-TRON is not USDC-Ethereum.
A “dollar” in a game wallet or a wrapped vault is not automatically the issuer’s token.
Safer habits
- Download wallet software only from a site or store listing you found yourself, not from a message.
- Write the recovery phrase on paper or another offline backup. Do not photograph it, email it, or type it into a website.
- Send a tiny test first. Confirm the network, the asset, and the destination.
- For a company account, turn on a second factor that is not only a text message if you can.
- Stop if anyone asks for the phrase, a remote-control app, or a “verification deposit.”
- Read the issuer’s terms and attestation page yourself.
- Confirm the contract address on the chain you are actually using.
This book does not tell you how to hide funds, evade a law, or defeat an investigation. A wallet lesson is about not losing your own keys—not about becoming invisible.
Read this twice
What can go wrong
Depeg
The market price can leave $1. History has examples. A name does not prevent it.
Freeze
An issuer may block addresses. That can be lawful compliance. It is still a loss of control for the holder.
Wrong network
A supported deposit route is not “any chain with a dollar icon.”
Reserve doubt
Attestations are not the same as a full audit of every promise. Read what the document actually says.
Algorithmic collapse
If the design needs a sister token or a death spiral of incentives, it is not cash.
United States readers only
Law and tax notes
These notes are for United States readers only. Other countries have different rules.
The Internal Revenue Service treats convertible virtual currency as property for federal tax purposes. That is the starting point in IRS Notice 2014-21. Later IRS pages, including the virtual-currency frequently asked questions, expand on reporting. They do not turn this book into tax advice.
Selling crypto, trading one crypto for another, or using crypto to pay for goods or services can be a taxable event. Receiving crypto as wages, as a trade or business payment, or in some airdrop or hard-fork situations can also create income. See Notice 2014-21 and Revenue Ruling 2019-24 for the IRS’s own words on forks and airdrops.
Keep records: date, amount in U.S. dollars, what you received or spent, and which service or wallet you used. A lost key is not automatically a deductible story you can invent later.
A listing, an exchange product, or a court remark about someone else is not your tax result.
U.S. treatment of a particular stablecoin can involve money-transmission, securities, commodities, and tax questions. This book will not classify USDT, USDC, or any other token for you.
Paying with a stablecoin can still be a taxable disposition of property under the IRS’s virtual-currency starting point. Ask a professional.
This is not legal or tax advice. Rules change. Read the linked primary pages and talk to a licensed professional about your own facts.
This coin’s extra pages
Three models beginners mix up
Fiat-backed: an issuer says each token is matched by reserves and may let some customers redeem. Your job is to read who may redeem and what the reserve document covers. Circle: the redemption right transfers “so long as the Holder is eligible to, and does, register a Circle Mint account.” If you are not eligible, you are not entitled to redeem USDC with Circle.
Crypto-backed: a contract mints a dollar-like token against crypto collateral. Liquidations and tax can hurt even if the code is famous.
Algorithmic: the peg is a mechanism. Several well-known designs failed. GENIUS’s payment-stablecoin definition turns on an issuer redemption obligation. Designs without one fall outside that category.
GENIUS Sec. 4(e): payment stablecoins shall not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, guaranteed by the United States Government, or subject to FDIC deposit insurance. It is unlawful to represent that they are.
Write it down
NOTES
Write the exact ticker, chain, and contract you are looking at—not “the dollar one.”
More room
NOTES
Words used in this book
GLOSSARY
Read these before the check-the-terms pages. A word is only useful if you can say it back in your own words.
- Stablecoin
- A token that aims to stay near a reference value. Aim is not a guarantee.
- Issuer
- The party that mints and, if allowed, redeems the token.
- Attestation
- A report about reserves. Read the scope. It may not be a full audit.
- Redeem
- Turn tokens back into dollars or another asset under the issuer’s rules.
- Depeg
- When the market price leaves the target.
- Freeze
- An issuer or contract blocking an address.
- USDC
- A dollar token issued by Circle, launched 2018. Check Circle’s current terms.
- USDT
- Tether’s dollar token. Created on Omni as TetherUS on 6 October 2014. The company renamed from Realcoin; the token was not named Realcoin on-chain. Check Tether’s current terms.
- GENIUS Act
- P.L. 119-27, 18 July 2025. A permitted issuer may issue payment stablecoins only if it can comply with a lawful order to seize, freeze, burn, or prevent transfer.
Check yourself
CHECK THE TERMS
Circle one answer. The answer key is on the next pages. Do not peek until you have tried.
-
Do all stablecoins share one birthday?
- Yes, January 3, 2009
- No. This is a category. TetherUS was created 6 October 2014; the company renamed later
- Yes, 2018
-
GENIUS Act freeze-and-burn capability is…
- Optional marketing
- A precondition of issuing for permitted issuers under §4(a)(6)(B)
- Proof the token is FDIC insured
-
Stable means FDIC insured.
- True
- False
- True for USDC only
-
The same ticker on two chains is always the same asset.
- True
- False
- True if both say $1
-
Can an issuer freeze some tokens?
- Never
- Often yes, if the terms and chain allow it
- Only on Bitcoin
-
Who should get your recovery phrase?
- The issuer’s support chat
- Nobody
- The attestor
-
An attestation is…
- A promise you can spend at any store
- A document with a scope you must read
- FDIC insurance
-
Algorithmic stablecoins cannot fail.
- True
- False
- True after 2022
-
Paying with a stablecoin is always a tax-free gift.
- True
- False. IRS property treatment can still apply
- True under $600
After you try
ANSWER KEY
- B. No. This is a category. TetherUS was created 6 October 2014; the company renamed later Token date is not company date. USDC is 2018.
- B. A precondition of issuing for permitted issuers under §4(a)(6)(B) Lawful-order compliance is required to issue.
- B. False A token is not automatically a bank deposit.
- B. False Contracts and networks differ.
- B. Often yes, if the terms and chain allow it Many centralized dollar tokens can freeze.
- B. Nobody Nobody.
- B. A document with a scope you must read Scope matters.
- B. False Several failed in public.
- B. False. IRS property treatment can still apply U.S. virtual-currency tax starting point is property.
Check our work
Sources
Primary pages first. In-repo research packs under docs/field-guides/ were used as source wells. Payhip product blurbs were not used as facts. If a pack left a gap UNVERIFIED, this book leaves it open.
